Delhi Half Marathon gold winner Jyoti Singh fails dope test, to be stripped of medal

New Delhi: Jyoti Singh, who won elite women’s half marathon gold in the New Delhi Marathon earlier this year, has tested positive for a banned substance, the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) said Monday. Jyoti, who had clocked 1 hour 22 minutes and 20 seconds to win the race, was placed under provisional suspension on 14 May. The race was held on 24 February. She is set to be stripped of the gold she had won. [caption id=“attachment_4045825” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AP[/caption] “If it is true, she will be stripped of her gold. The silver winner will be upgraded to gold,” race director Nagaraj Adiga told PTI. The NADA also said that 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games gold medallist weightlifter K Ravi Kumar has been provisionally suspended for testing positive for a banned substance. The dope flunk of Ravi, who won gold in 69kg in the 2010 Delhi CWG, comes after more than a dozen weightlifters failed dope tests last month. His sample was collected during the 71st Men & 34th Women Senior National Weightlifting Championship in Visakhapatnam in February. According to the NADA, five other weightlifters – Veerender Singh (96kg), Deepika (49kg), Vishal Solanki (109kg), Seema (81kg) and Purnima Pandey (87kg) – who took part in that National Championship returned positive. Two athletes who won medals in the Khelo India Youth Games in Pune earlier this year – wrestler Rohit Ahire (Greco Roman 72kg) and swimmer Sahil Pawar (50m freestyle) – also tested positive for banned substance and have been placed under provisional suspension. The NADA’s Anti-Doping Appeal Panel has also upheld the decision of the Disciplinary Panel to impose a suspension of eight years on quartermiler Priyanka Panwar, a member of the gold-winning Indian team in the 2014 Asian Games. Priyanka had tested positive a second time in 2016. Her first dope offence was in 2011. The Anti-Doping Appeal Panel also reduced the ineligibility period of hockey player Akash Chikte from two years imposed by the Disciplinary Panel to 13 months. The NADA also confirmed that 16-year-old Aryan Bhatia, who became the first Indian tennis player to fail a dope test, has been let off by the Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel.